Its obvious what the problem is

[Westcoast]

The guys got too "big for their britches". IT happens all the time with teams who make it onto the limelight. They stop playing with the same passion, purpose and zeal. Last year PSU made onto the Top 10 and went into free fall for a while. Illinois did the same thing. Maryland did it too. Now we've done it.
Suddenly one of the best rebounding teams in the country gets out rebounded BY EVERYONE. One of the best defensive teams can't stop ANYONE. Help defense is slow or non-existent. Just playing in quicksand since the last few min of the Iowa game.

Im even more worried that they aren't concerned by the total change in effort and energy. They're playing like complete crap. Trending off the bubble into "we still aint made the tourney since '91" territory...

Sigh

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

It isn’t obvious if you say this has been happening since the last few minutes of the Iowa game.

look beyond that. Don’t mistake great shooting for effort in the defensive end.

 

[fluoxetine]

I don't think this is obvious at all, though I do think there is a little truth to the idea that they started to believe they were really good and got away from their identity a little bit. But I think also:

(a) There is variance in sporting outcomes that is basically outside player control. A lot of guys starting shooting badly simultaneously, which is partly just "luck"

(b) Young, Harper, and Baker are still hurt. Baker is getting constantly beat on defense and I have to believe it is because of his ankle. Wouldn't be surprised if Harper's issues have also been related to his injury (and also he was just playing out of his mind at the beginning of the season and was never likely to keep that up at that level). Young seems not 100% as well.

(c) The combination of (a) and (b) has led to a lot of frustration and guys losing confidence which causes it all to snowball.

What we really need is to get off to a good start in a game. I don't think there is any question that when our team is at its best they can beat anyone. But at the level they played in the last two games they could also lose to almost anyone.

 

[rufeelinit]

I don't think this is obvious at all, though I do think there is a little truth to the idea that they started to believe they were really good and got away from their identity a little bit. But I think also:

(a) There is variance in sporting outcomes that is basically outside player control. A lot of guys starting shooting badly simultaneously, which is partly just "luck"

(b) Young, Harper, and Baker are still hurt. Baker is getting constantly beat on defense and I have to believe it is because of his ankle. Wouldn't be surprised if Harper's issues have also been related to his injury (and also he was just playing out of his mind at the beginning of the season and was never likely to keep that up at that level). Young seems not 100% as well.

(c) The combination of (a) and (b) has led to a lot of frustration and guys losing confidence which causes it all to snowball.

What we really need is to get off to a good start in a game. I don't think there is any question that when our team is at its best they can beat anyone. But at the level they played in the last two games they could also lose to almost anyone.

While Young's defense maybe impacted by his fall at OSU, Geo and I think Ron as well, just do not have the lateral quickness and foot speed to play tight man to man defense on the perimeter. This has been evident for a long time and part of the reason why we hedge so much with Myles away from the basket. I think Montez and Paul can also be beaten off the dribble depending on the opponent. All of these guys have played enough to know how to compensate for their deficiencies but Ron and Geo being injured only exacerbate the issue but it is not the root cause. They just are not that fleet a foot.

 

[Loyal_2RU]

I think neither Ron not (and especially) Geo have had their usual level of explosiveness since the injury. Try are used to haven't an extra gear to go to and when they have tried much more used than not it is not successful. That leads to frustration on their way and take team mates, disrupts chemistry, their sharing principles, and their swagger.

None of that is good for the team's performance and it is hard to get it back fast.

 

[ScarletKid2008]

REBOUNDING & DEFENSE.

Its the two things that we are built on and in this streak, we are doing poorly. Not even average, just poor.

Some of the posts above this explain why possibly these two areas of our game has taken a nose dive.

Injuries, Lingering impacts of injuries, Drop in effort due to overhype (i don't believe this one as much), and shooting slumps.

In the last 4 minutes of the most recent OSU game we played the level of defense that is expected and needed.

I also think the team possibly has let the lack of favorable calls get in their heads during this streak. Myles Johnson body language has been really poor since that first OSU game, he hasn't been the same since. I think Geo & Montez feel like the Iowa game was stolen by the refs. You can just see these guys react to every call in the last 3 games with deflated body language, frustration, etc. It probably is a small part of the root causes and feeds more into their confidence on the defensive end.

A return to identity in these next few games is important. They need to find maximum effort (and taste the fruits of labor) from what rebounding and defense does for this team. That was exactly how we were going on these long in-game runs and pulling away from teams earlier in the season.

 

[Mr_Twister]

We all underestimate the coaches of the opponents.

 

[Scarlet Blind_rivals]

3 out of 4 losses happened against forward-centric, bigger teams, OSU and MSU, just a bad basketball matchup to our team. They put our strength and conditioning to shame.

MSU forwards- Henry 6-6 210, Hauser 6-9 220, Brown 6-7 210, Hall 6-7 215, Marble 6-8 225, Kitthier 6-8 230, and Bingham 6-11 225.

OSU- Liddell 6-7 240, SueIng 6-7 215, Young 6-8 225, Zed Key 6-8 245, Towns 6-8 230, Ahrens 6-6 195, G Jallow 6-5 210 and Washington 6-3 210.

Beside Cliff, Myles, Doucoure and RHJ, we don't have alot of weight behind our size missing Cliff, Reiber 6'10 225, Oscar 6-8 220, Mag 6-7 215 that didn't really play much in any of 3.

We have never played these teams well(1-8), the last 3 seasons, with one to go. I think the only mistake Pike did in these matchups this year was not trying Mag or Palmquist to see if they are capable of defending the size and strength. Iowa we blew and RHJ hasn't looked 100% after missing Purdue. Nothing to do with bigger head syndrome.

 

[REDRICH65]

Opposing coaches have figured us out. Control the boards and get back to stop fast breaks, defend tightly cause can’t make FTs, allow some 3s which we miss

 

[RUBigFrank]

what are britches?

why are they big?

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Flux has it. Some combination of a and b.

add that some players have been playing more minutes than optimal because of injuries